Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland
On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the material entered...
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Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier
2023
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-200962 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
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ftumeauniv:oai:DiVA.org:umu-200962 2024-09-15T18:09:33+00:00 Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels Jákup Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Djurhuus Poulsen, Majken Priebe, Janina Vest Sørensen, Erik Morino, Costanza 2023 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-200962 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 eng eng UmeÃ¥ universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier Science of the Total Environment, 0048-9697, 2023, 859, orcid:0000-0003-2038-0437 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-200962 doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 PMID 36370780 ISI:000999504600013 Scopus 2-s2.0-85141925556 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Landslide Arctic tsunami disaster permafrost degradation Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2023 ftumeauniv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 2024-08-20T23:39:49Z On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the material entered the sea and generated a tsunami that propagated through the Vaigat strait (Sullorsuaq). Here we describe this catastrophic event for the first time by analysis of historical material supplemented by recent fieldwork and discuss the implications for the state of contemporary permafrozen slopes. The tsunami killed a fisherman working on the shore of southern Nuussuaq, 10 km south-east of the landslide. In the mining town of Qullissat, 30 km south of the landslide, it had a runup height of 2.2–2.7 m and caused minor material damage. Morphological evidence show that the basal surface of rupture was 80 m inside the permafrost cemented talus slope, whose degradation was a dynamic conditioning factor for the landslide. The 1952 Niiortuut landslide is the first historically recorded event of permafrost degradation induced landslide-tsunamis in the Arctic. We infer that the landslide and its cascading consequences occurred due to the early-twentieth century warming that started in the late 1910's in the Arctic. Warming is now increasingly affecting this region, as shown by an enhanced recent landslide activity. Part 1. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) Science of The Total Environment 859 160110 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Umeå University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftumeauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Landslide Arctic tsunami disaster permafrost degradation Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap |
spellingShingle |
Landslide Arctic tsunami disaster permafrost degradation Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels Jákup Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Djurhuus Poulsen, Majken Priebe, Janina Vest Sørensen, Erik Morino, Costanza Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
topic_facet |
Landslide Arctic tsunami disaster permafrost degradation Geosciences Multidisciplinary Multidisciplinär geovetenskap |
description |
On December 15th 1952, at approximately 14:00 local time a mass of 5.9 × 106 m3 of permafrozen talus deposits failed in a landslide close to the Niiortuut mountain on the south coast of the Nuussuaq peninsula, central West Greenland. Between 1.8 and 4.5 × 106 m3 of the material entered the sea and generated a tsunami that propagated through the Vaigat strait (Sullorsuaq). Here we describe this catastrophic event for the first time by analysis of historical material supplemented by recent fieldwork and discuss the implications for the state of contemporary permafrozen slopes. The tsunami killed a fisherman working on the shore of southern Nuussuaq, 10 km south-east of the landslide. In the mining town of Qullissat, 30 km south of the landslide, it had a runup height of 2.2–2.7 m and caused minor material damage. Morphological evidence show that the basal surface of rupture was 80 m inside the permafrost cemented talus slope, whose degradation was a dynamic conditioning factor for the landslide. The 1952 Niiortuut landslide is the first historically recorded event of permafrost degradation induced landslide-tsunamis in the Arctic. We infer that the landslide and its cascading consequences occurred due to the early-twentieth century warming that started in the late 1910's in the Arctic. Warming is now increasingly affecting this region, as shown by an enhanced recent landslide activity. Part 1. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels Jákup Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Djurhuus Poulsen, Majken Priebe, Janina Vest Sørensen, Erik Morino, Costanza |
author_facet |
Svennevig, Kristian Keiding, Marie Korsgaard, Niels Jákup Lucas, Antoine Owen, Matthew Djurhuus Poulsen, Majken Priebe, Janina Vest Sørensen, Erik Morino, Costanza |
author_sort |
Svennevig, Kristian |
title |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_short |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_full |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the Arctic : the 1952 Niiortuut landslide tsunami in central West Greenland |
title_sort |
uncovering a 70-year-old permafrost degradation-induced disaster in the arctic : the 1952 niiortuut landslide tsunami in central west greenland |
publisher |
Umeå universitet, Institutionen för idé- och samhällsstudier |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-200962 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
genre |
Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost |
genre_facet |
Greenland Nuussuaq permafrost |
op_relation |
Science of the Total Environment, 0048-9697, 2023, 859, orcid:0000-0003-2038-0437 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-200962 doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 PMID 36370780 ISI:000999504600013 Scopus 2-s2.0-85141925556 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160110 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
859 |
container_start_page |
160110 |
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1810447115961237504 |